The invention relates to a pallet apparatus adopted for use in distribution, storage, transportation and movement and particularly to a pallet apparatus that is equipped with a radio frequency recognition module.
In complicated distribution, storage, transportation and conveying processes, container carriers such as pallets are often being used to stack and transport goods to increase operation efficiency. Using the pallets, suppliers can stack goods easily and deliver the goods to customer sites. Similarly, the suppliers or customers can also use the properties of pallets that are easy to move and stack, to classify and manage merchandising and products.
To facilitate transportation of goods and distribution of the pallets, some vendors deliver the goods with the pallets to customers, and retrieve the pallets at the next shipment. However, such a practice is prone to create complaints. As the pallets, which are shipped with the goods by the upstream suppliers to customer sites, are often stored in warehouses, they cannot be retrieved quickly. The pallets often reclaimed by the suppliers are used and worn pallets of the same size. They become a loss to the upstream suppliers and disputes arise. To avoid such a situation, some upstream suppliers directly stack the goods on customer""s pallets during shipment so that the pallets may be reclaimed directly. However, such a practice incurs increased costs and lower operation efficiency.
Present enterprises, using pallets to transport goods in the distribution operation, often employ bar codes to stick to the pallets or goods. The bar code stickers tend to drop and do not last long. Moreover, as the pallets often are used to hold goods and moved in factories, impact and scraping of the bar code stickers occur frequently. The bar codes are often worn and smeared, or lost. As a result, the pallets could become unrecognizable. Furthermore, bonding and maintaining the bar codes with human labor are costly. This is not suitable for mass application. Some vendors try to use radio frequency identification (RFID) on the pallets by bonding the RFID labels to the pallets. However, in such a method the RFID labels are easily damaged or lost, due to impact during transportation.
In order to resolve the aforesaid problems, the invention aims at providing a pallet apparatus equipped with a radio frequency recognition module that couples a radio recognition device to a pallet so that the pallet may be detected and identified by a reader.
The pallet apparatus equipped with a radio frequency recognition module of the invention couples a well-developed and low cost RFID to the pallet. The identification code in the PFID can be recognized by a reader to identify the pallet easily.
The invention also provides different bonding methods for the most commonly used wooden pallets and plastic pallets. The bonding for the wooden pallet is accomplished by inserting a coupling member with a deep cavity formed on the pallet. For plastic pallets, a clip for holding the radio recognition device is provided and wedged in a cavity formed on the pallet. Bonding is secured without the risk of dropping or being damaged by impact. The function of radio recognition is provided. It can be used to maintain the existing structures without increasing the costs greatly.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention, will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.